Tough Cookie for Monarchist!
Title: Tough Cookie
Author: chouta_angel
Recipient: monarchist
Characters: Hiyoshi Wakashi, Kirihara Akaya, Zaizen Hikaru (mentions of others)
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Underage drinking
Summary: No one said going to a magical school would be easy.
Notes: I hope you enjoy this, Monarchist! The boys weren’t the most cooperative bunch, only wanting to give snippets. Mahoutokoro AU
Seven
Messy hair. Bright red cheeks. Breathing hard from running. Dirt smudged on both their faces.
They say first impressions are everything when it comes to setting the tone of a relationship. If that was the case, it certainly said a lot that this one started with an argument, a bet, and a race that left both participants laying in the dirt.
“Are you two ready to behave now?” Zaizen asked from his spot on his rock. He didn't even glance up from the shiny black cell phone in his hands.
“I'm not the one who started it,” the one with dark hair growled, sitting up so he could glare at Zaizen.
“Fine. Who won?” Was Zaizen's response.
The other boy on the ground joined in the growling. “You were supposed to be watching.”
Zaizen glanced up. “You never asked me to.” And they hadn't. They'd told him to but they hadn't asked. It had been the one thing the two had managed to agree on. It wasn't like their issues with each other were his concern.
One gaped, the other glared. Zaizen turned his attention back to the game on his phone. His mom would probably yell at him for draining the battery but he wasn't really sure what else to do. This whole school was something he really wasn't sure about. And maybe it would have been okay and he'd have been able to hang out with some kids (after all, he knew that the Oshitari kids went here and while they might have been annoying, they were still friendly faces)...except for the two kids in front of him.
Both were now glaring, their scowls hilariously similar. Neither had made any attempts at wiping away the dirt smudges on their faces or the dust that clung to their pink robes. Robes that were identical to the one Zaizen himself wore. He wasn't sure what he thought of the color but it didn't seem like they had to keep the pink. The Oshitari kids had ones that looked different and he was pretty sure he'd seen a couple of gold ones too.
He shrugged. “Seriously, you should ask someone if you want their help, not just demand it.”
“Well if you weren't going to watch, why'd you stick around?” The black haired one yelled. Looking up, Zaizen wondered if the kid would stomp his foot.
“Because going inside messes with my phone,” he answered, holding the thing up a little so the other two could see it more clearly. “It didn't want to work when I went in there,” he said, gesturing towards the jade green palace a little ways off in the distance.
The black haired kid's expression changed. He was looking at the device like it was something he'd never seen or heard of before.
The other kid's expression changed too. “You get reception out here?”
Zaizen shook his head. “No reception. This whole island's a dead zone but I'm still able to play the games on it.”
“What are you two talking about?” The black haired kid asked, all earlier traces of annoyance and anger having vanished and now replaced by confusion. “What is that thing? And what's a dead zone? This place isn't dead.”
“What are you three doing out here?”
All the boys turned as one to see an old guy in a pale yellow-y robe and a weird hat. Okay he wasn't old old but he was definitely a grown up which made him old in Zaizen's eyes. “You're supposed to be in class by now.”
The three kids all shared a look. Zaizen wasn't entirely sure what that look was but he knew he wouldn't say anything. Not that he owed the other two his loyalty. He certainly didn't expect them to owe him any.
Apparently the other two had the same idea because they didn't say anything either. All three were just staring at the guy who was probably a teacher. Had to be. No one that old looking could be a student.
When they didn’t respond, the old guy laughed. “Fine, be that way. First day for you kids?”
The messy haired kid nodded. “Yeah. So?”
“I suppose I should help you guys figure out where you’re supposed to be,” the old guy said. He pulled a lollipop out of his pocket. “Come on, let’s go.” He stuck the lollipop in his mouth and started walking towards the palace that was Mahoutokoro.
Zaizen glanced over at the other two. The dark, messy haired kid started following but the other one caught his eye. The kid shrugged. Zaizen shrugged. Jumping down from his rock, Zaizen walked with the kid as they trailed behind the other two.
-~-
Eleven
“Are you kidding me?”
“What, you hate us that much?”
Two seconds in and they were already bickering. Lovely. Zaizen could feel a headache already starting to form. Knowing his luck, he’d have it for the next several years.
Kirihara flopped onto the bed closest to the door. “It’s not that bad, Piyoshi.”
Hiyoshi growled, all but stomping over to the bed furthest from Kirihara. Which left Zaizen with the middle. Great.
“You should have known this would happen.” Zaizen went through the small pile of luggage piled by the side of the door. “This school hates us.” Finding the bag he was looking for, he dragged the heavy thing over to what was going to be his bed.
“What did you bring?” Kirihara sat up, staring at the bag. Hiyoshi was still trying to ignore them as he instead chose to stare out the window by his bed.
“Dunno. My mom packed it, not me.” Which was scary considering she was muggle and yeah, he had been going to Mahoutokoro for a few years now but that didn’t mean she knew what he was supposed to bring.
Kirihara looked at it with a curious look on his face. “Your mom always sends the weirdest stuff. You bring any of those games?”
“The fighting ones? I think?” Could the questions end already? He wasn’t sure what was in the bag and he didn’t feel like fielding all the questions. “Mom packed it, not me.” Apparently being eleven meant nothing to his mother in regards to letting him do his own thing. Because becoming a full-time student at his school wasn’t enough of a sign that he was growing up and could do stuff for himself.
Did she pack bricks in the thing or something? Picking it up was going to be harder than he thought. Not impossible but seriously what in the world was in this thing. He left it on the floor, opening it and going through it. Mostly boring stuff like clothes and books.
“What’s this?”
Zaizen looked up from the bag, finding Kirihara now sitting on his bed with a box of pocky in his hand. When had that happened?
“You never seen pocky before?” Hiyoshi was staring at Kirihara, face incredulous at the thought. “Seriously? I mean I’ve never seen it at any of the magic markets but still…”
Kirihara snorted as he looked over the colorful box. “Are you kidding me? My mom would kill me even if we did find this at one of the magic shops. She’s all crazy anti-muggle anything and everything.”
“Bet she’d love to hear you’re rooming with a half-blood and a muggle-born then.” Hiyoshi took the box away, opening it up for Kirihara. Zaizen scowled. Those were his. He let it be though wanting to keep his headache from getting any bigger and if he got into an argument with either (or both) of these two that’s all he’d get, a bigger headache.
“I’m not telling her that,” Kirihara admitted, pulling out one of the sticks and staring at this. “What is this?”
“You eat it, dummy,” Hiyoshi said as he took one for himself.
Kirihara hesitantly put the stick of pocky in his mouth and took a bite. Almost immediately, his eyes grew wide. The light caught his green eyes, making them shine like emeralds. It was creepy. Eyes should not do that even at a magical school. At least not unless they were spelled to and Zaizen knew for a fact that Kirihara’s eyes weren’t spelled. Okay maybe not for a fact but he was 99.999% positive they weren’t spelled.
A knock came from the doorway. All three turned in unison.
“I see I get you three.” Osamu stood in the doorway, practically glowing in his pale gold robe.
“I thought you graduated.” Hiyoshi crossed his arms and stared. Zaizen joined him. Kirihara took the box of pocky, apparently not caring about anything else. Traitor. Osamu was the enemy. Had been ever since that first day when he’d dragged the three of them into the school.
It wasn’t that Osamu was bad. He hadn’t been a teacher, just an upper-upperclassman back then but he had this annoying habit of always showing up and just...getting in the way and being this annoying grown up who seemed to think he was cool. He wasn’t. He was the lamest. Though in some ways the guy was goals because he managed to get on all the teachers good sides while being one of the schools biggest slackers.
“They gave me a job here. I’m supposed to keep track of you kids.”
Zaizen looked at Hiyoshi who was looking at him. They were definitely both thinking the same thing. Great.
-~-
Thirteen
Kirihara was screeching. Someone kill him. Now.
“You talking about yourself or him?” Zaizen asked, glancing over at where Hiyoshi was stretched across his bed. “Either can be arranged. I just need to know who to set the hit up for.”
Hiyoshi threw a pillow in his direction. Leaning to the side, Zaizen avoided getting hit. He watched as the pillow smacked into wall and bounced onto their missing roommate’s bed.
“He’s outside and we can hear his shitty yelling,” Hiyoshi groaned. “He’ll probably come up here in a few minutes still screaming like he’s lost his mind.”
Zaizen had no doubts about that. “Yeah, I’m guessing he made the Quidditch team.”
“No shit, Sherlock.”
“If we’re lucky, he’ll end up in the infirmary for the next few years.”
Hiyoshi barked out a laugh. “If only.”
No one ever said they were the best of friends. No one ever said they were even friends at all. But they did keep getting lumped together. It had started with that first day at Mahoutokoro. Something in their joined experience of getting dragged into the school by Osamu had marked them as a unit in the eyes of everyone else. Getting thrown in the same room a few years later when they became full-time students had only made that worse.
It wasn’t the easiest room to live in. Kirihara was too loud and his section of the room was a disgusting mess. Zaizen was pretty sure if he ever needed extra credit for herbology that he could just look under Kirihara’s bed and grab something. Didn’t matter what because no doubt it’d be some new species of something creepy and magical that’d make him famous for its discovery. Plus there was Kirihara’s parents and all the anti-muggle crap they liked to send. Zaizen liked to use the stuff for spell practice because it was a lot of fun watching the stuff burn. Or melt. It was strange how often his spells went wrong whenever he practiced on that stuff…
Not that Hiyoshi was a piece of cake either. Guy was an ass but at least he was a quiet ass. Most of the time. It was fun to get him riled up and even more fun to get Kirihara to rile the guy up. A bit too passionate and competitive for Zaizen’s tastes though but it was fun to pit his roommates against each other. One good point was that he didn’t have to explain all the little stupid shit to Hiyoshi. Guy had both a muggle and a wizard for parents so he understood both worlds decently.
And Zaizen...well Zaizen was currently trying to figure out how to make a magical patch that would let him access the internet. Two years and he still had no luck with it. He was starting to think he needed into the more advanced sections of the library...and probably more knowledge in how magic and electronics worked so that he could figure out how to get them to play nice.
The screeching abruptly stopped.
Not looking up from the notebook he was writing in, Zaizen had to ask it. “Did you kill him?”
Hiyoshi groaned. “No. But if you don’t shut up, you’ll take his spot on the list.”
Zaizen rolled his eyes and went back to trying to understand the formula he’d found written in the margin of some old muggle studies book he’d found in the school library. It seemed similar to something he’d seen in his brother’s science book. That one had been talking about electric currents and converting between them. Maybe not the right thing but it was a start.
Besides, he already knew what Hiyoshi’s deal was. They all did. Hiyoshi just didn’t want to accept that his eyes had gotten worse. Guy needed someone to drag him off to an optometrist and get him glasses that actually corrected his vision. That was the only way the guy’s headaches would stop but nope, Hiyoshi refused to listen to actual reason.
Sometimes Zaizen wondered what he’d done in a previous life to get stuck with the two of them. Nothing good if this was his punishment.
Stomping warned them that Kirihara was coming.
“I MADE THE TEAM!” He screamed at them.
“We know.” Hiyoshi lifted his hand and flicked the wand in it, sending the pillow from earlier zooming towards Kirihara.
Zaizen ignored the spluttering noises coming from his roommate. Not his problem, he wasn’t going to get involved. Besides, something about this equation looked like it might make more sense than he initially thought. He’d have to show it to Ryuuzaki-sensei. She was interested in the muggle world (rumor had it her grandkid was a squib). He didn’t want to share his findings but at the same time, he was pretty sure he didn’t have enough magical knowledge to do this himself.
-~-
Fifteen
Hiyoshi and Kirihara were drunk. Someone thought it was a brilliant idea to bring alcohol back after their winter break. It only made the headache Zaizen had been nursing the last eight years even worse. Not that Zaizen blamed them, or anyone else, for drinking tonight. He kind of felt like it himself.
Kenya walked over, drink in one hand and a second in the other. “You look like you need this,” he said, offering one of the cups to Zaizen.
“Thanks.” Zaizen took it, eyeing it warily for a moment. “Niou-sempai anywhere near the drinks?”
“Not that I know of. Fuji’s not been near them either.” Kenya took a drink of the one he still held. He tried, and failed, at not wincing at the taste.
White robes happened. They all knew that every so often a student, or teacher since a lot of the teachers wore them too, would fall into the dark arts and have their robe turn white. Zaizen could vaguely remember hearing about someone’s robes turning white back when he’d been a day student.
But damn…he’d never expected it to happen. And not to that person.
Zaizen took a deep drink. It felt like he swallowed liquid fire. He coughed and flushed in embarrassment. No one, except Kenya, even seemed to notice.
“Yeah, not so much,” his friend said softly, rubbing Zaizen’s back. “Want to come hang with me and the others?”
A glance over at his roommates told Zaizen that the two were still in the midst of doing whatever it was they were doing. It looked like they were trying to outdrink the other but he couldn’t be sure. Hopefully they wouldn’t make themselves sick. They probably would. He wasn’t going to clean up that mess.
Which is how Zaizen somehow found himself sandwiched in the corner of the common room, Kenya on one side and Kenya’s cousin Yuushi on the other. Everyone was drinking heavily but then, this was the group that was probably hit hardest.
“To Osaka!” One of the guys cheered, holding up what looked like a flask. Zaizen wasn’t about to ask what was in it.
“To Osaka,” the rest repeated though they were far less cheerful sounding about it.
Zaizen shifted, trying to get comfortable but it was hard when he had elbows digging into both his sides. Yuushi shifted too, resting his head on Zaizen’s shoulder. Zaizen attempted to shrug the head off but that just earned him a look. He didn’t know what that look said but it was trying to say something.
“It’s going to be weird to go home and see Osamu now,” another said. Shiraishi? Yeah, Zaizen was pretty sure that the pretty boy’s name was Shiraishi.
“You really think he’ll be able to show his face there again?” Kenya asked.
“You’re talking like he’ll make it out of his trial without getting punished,” a tall guy with fuzzy hair said. Chi-something.
He knew he should stop drinking, that having issues with his memory wasn’t a good sign. Zaizen decided to ignore the logical part of his brain for the rest of the night. Besides, Yuushi had started mumbling something and while he couldn’t make out the guy’s words, the rumble of his voice and the movement of his lips right on Zaizen’s collarbone was making him even drunker.
It hurt. Osamu’s betrayal and turn to the dark arts. Rumors were flying around the school about what had caused it and what exactly had happened. Zaizen wanted to care more, to try and figure out what had really happened. He didn’t want to. All they knew for certain was that Osamu had been with Yukimura at the time. Something had happened because Yukimura was still out with no signs of returning and Osamu’s robes had turned white.
And so they drank.
He didn’t know what time it was. A lot of people had stumbled off to their rooms by now. A few had wandered off in couples, some that had been established that night and others that everyone had known about. Kenya was snoring on his left and Yuushi was still using Zaizen as a pillow.
“Go to bed,” a kind voice suggested. Zaizen looked around, trying to blink away the haze he was still in.
Shiraishi was in front of him, a soft expression on his face. “It’s okay, go sleep,” the older guy said. “I’ll look after these two.”
Zaizen stared at the guy. “Are you okay?” He asked. They all knew that Shiraishi had been close to Osamu, a lot closer than any of the rest of them. And Shiraishi was friends with Yukimura. Whatever had happened had to be hitting this guy the hardest.
“No,” the older guy answered. He shook his head. “None of us are though.”
Trying to stand up was harder than Zaizen anticipated. At some point during the last however long it had been, Yuushi had managed to sneak an arm around Zaizen’s waist and was holding on tight. He hadn’t even noticed. Part of him said Zaizen should have, that it should bug him. Instead he just felt lonely as he stumbled to the room he shared with Hiyoshi and Kirihara.
His roommates were alive. They were both curled up on Zaizen’s bed but they were alive and it didn’t look like they’d puked on it. Hallelujah.
He should probably kick them off. It sounded like more effort than it was worth though so he took himself over to Hiyoshi’s bed. Hiyoshi’s, after all, was clean and not growing new magical experiments.
The next morning, he felt like dying.
So did everyone else so at least there was company in their misery.
-~-
Seventeen
A cluster of tiny children were gathered in front of the school.
“Were we really once that small?” Kirihara’s voice asked from next to Zaizen’s ear.
“Get your head off my shoulder,” was Zaizen’s response.
“You know you love me.” Kirihara didn’t move his head.
“Love to get rid of you,” Hiyoshi answered. Zaizen couldn’t have said it better himself. He moved his arm, elbowing Kirihara in the ribs. There was a little ‘oof’ from the other but his head was gone now. That was an improvement.
Zaizen started towards the school, ignoring the crowd of children. They could stare if they wanted. He had a project to get back to. There was still a little bit of tweaking to do but he was fairly confident he’d be able to access the internet this year. The prototype had done well when he’d gotten supplies at the magical market in Tokyo over the summer. Connection had been spotty but he’d definitely been able to access a few different sites. Just text-based and not resource-intensive sites but he’d gotten online and that was the important part.
He pulled the dinged up black cell phone out of his pocket. Like always, no bars of service out this far. He’d have to keep working on that too. Message by owl was just too inefficient and made no sense. Magic might be cool and a handy shortcut to some things but the muggle world had surpassed it in others.
“Last year,” Hiyoshi said as they entered the school. “Unless you guys plan on sticking around.”
Zaizen didn’t have to look to know Kirihara was shaking his head. “I’m out of here,” the guy said. “Quidditch team tryouts for me after graduation.”
“You’re going to die.”
“Will not.”
“Yeah you are,” Zaizen agreed with Hiyoshi. “I’m not going to the funeral.”
“You talk like there will be a body for the funeral. He’ll probably drown during a storm.”
Kirihara growled at the two of them and reached out to grab them. Zaizen didn’t have to look at Hiyoshi to know what his roommate was thinking.
They bolted, taking off through the hallways of the grand jade palace they called both their home and school.
Messy hair. Bright red cheeks. Breathing hard from running. No dirt smudged on their faces as the three lay on the floor of their shared dorm. A few laughs might have been attempted but they were all breathing too hard for that to happen.
Kirihara recovered first. He reached over and smacked both of them. “If I die and you two don’t come to the funeral, my ghost will haunt you two until you die,” he vowed, the look in his eyes showing just how serious he was.
Zaizen sat up, resting against Hiyoshi’s bed. “Follow him, he’d enjoy it,” he said, nodding towards their third roommate. “You’d make his life.”
“Would not.”
“It really would, wouldn’t it?” Kirihara looked like he was struggling not to laugh. “I’ll just haunt you instead.”
Lovely. That backfired on him.
“I shouldn’t have waited for that stupid race to finish,” Zaizen grumbled under his breath.
First impressions mean a lot. They start a relationship and have the ability to twist it in a particular direction. But they aren’t everything. Time can change a person, a relationship. A decade is a long time and Zaizen couldn’t imagine spending his time at Mahoutokoro with anyone else. Even if he’d had a headache for the last ten years of his life and would likely keep it for the rest of it. Because while he might not like Kirihara or Hiyoshi and the two could be idiots, they were his idiots.
Author: chouta_angel
Recipient: monarchist
Characters: Hiyoshi Wakashi, Kirihara Akaya, Zaizen Hikaru (mentions of others)
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Underage drinking
Summary: No one said going to a magical school would be easy.
Notes: I hope you enjoy this, Monarchist! The boys weren’t the most cooperative bunch, only wanting to give snippets. Mahoutokoro AU
Seven
Messy hair. Bright red cheeks. Breathing hard from running. Dirt smudged on both their faces.
They say first impressions are everything when it comes to setting the tone of a relationship. If that was the case, it certainly said a lot that this one started with an argument, a bet, and a race that left both participants laying in the dirt.
“Are you two ready to behave now?” Zaizen asked from his spot on his rock. He didn't even glance up from the shiny black cell phone in his hands.
“I'm not the one who started it,” the one with dark hair growled, sitting up so he could glare at Zaizen.
“Fine. Who won?” Was Zaizen's response.
The other boy on the ground joined in the growling. “You were supposed to be watching.”
Zaizen glanced up. “You never asked me to.” And they hadn't. They'd told him to but they hadn't asked. It had been the one thing the two had managed to agree on. It wasn't like their issues with each other were his concern.
One gaped, the other glared. Zaizen turned his attention back to the game on his phone. His mom would probably yell at him for draining the battery but he wasn't really sure what else to do. This whole school was something he really wasn't sure about. And maybe it would have been okay and he'd have been able to hang out with some kids (after all, he knew that the Oshitari kids went here and while they might have been annoying, they were still friendly faces)...except for the two kids in front of him.
Both were now glaring, their scowls hilariously similar. Neither had made any attempts at wiping away the dirt smudges on their faces or the dust that clung to their pink robes. Robes that were identical to the one Zaizen himself wore. He wasn't sure what he thought of the color but it didn't seem like they had to keep the pink. The Oshitari kids had ones that looked different and he was pretty sure he'd seen a couple of gold ones too.
He shrugged. “Seriously, you should ask someone if you want their help, not just demand it.”
“Well if you weren't going to watch, why'd you stick around?” The black haired one yelled. Looking up, Zaizen wondered if the kid would stomp his foot.
“Because going inside messes with my phone,” he answered, holding the thing up a little so the other two could see it more clearly. “It didn't want to work when I went in there,” he said, gesturing towards the jade green palace a little ways off in the distance.
The black haired kid's expression changed. He was looking at the device like it was something he'd never seen or heard of before.
The other kid's expression changed too. “You get reception out here?”
Zaizen shook his head. “No reception. This whole island's a dead zone but I'm still able to play the games on it.”
“What are you two talking about?” The black haired kid asked, all earlier traces of annoyance and anger having vanished and now replaced by confusion. “What is that thing? And what's a dead zone? This place isn't dead.”
“What are you three doing out here?”
All the boys turned as one to see an old guy in a pale yellow-y robe and a weird hat. Okay he wasn't old old but he was definitely a grown up which made him old in Zaizen's eyes. “You're supposed to be in class by now.”
The three kids all shared a look. Zaizen wasn't entirely sure what that look was but he knew he wouldn't say anything. Not that he owed the other two his loyalty. He certainly didn't expect them to owe him any.
Apparently the other two had the same idea because they didn't say anything either. All three were just staring at the guy who was probably a teacher. Had to be. No one that old looking could be a student.
When they didn’t respond, the old guy laughed. “Fine, be that way. First day for you kids?”
The messy haired kid nodded. “Yeah. So?”
“I suppose I should help you guys figure out where you’re supposed to be,” the old guy said. He pulled a lollipop out of his pocket. “Come on, let’s go.” He stuck the lollipop in his mouth and started walking towards the palace that was Mahoutokoro.
Zaizen glanced over at the other two. The dark, messy haired kid started following but the other one caught his eye. The kid shrugged. Zaizen shrugged. Jumping down from his rock, Zaizen walked with the kid as they trailed behind the other two.
-~-
Eleven
“Are you kidding me?”
“What, you hate us that much?”
Two seconds in and they were already bickering. Lovely. Zaizen could feel a headache already starting to form. Knowing his luck, he’d have it for the next several years.
Kirihara flopped onto the bed closest to the door. “It’s not that bad, Piyoshi.”
Hiyoshi growled, all but stomping over to the bed furthest from Kirihara. Which left Zaizen with the middle. Great.
“You should have known this would happen.” Zaizen went through the small pile of luggage piled by the side of the door. “This school hates us.” Finding the bag he was looking for, he dragged the heavy thing over to what was going to be his bed.
“What did you bring?” Kirihara sat up, staring at the bag. Hiyoshi was still trying to ignore them as he instead chose to stare out the window by his bed.
“Dunno. My mom packed it, not me.” Which was scary considering she was muggle and yeah, he had been going to Mahoutokoro for a few years now but that didn’t mean she knew what he was supposed to bring.
Kirihara looked at it with a curious look on his face. “Your mom always sends the weirdest stuff. You bring any of those games?”
“The fighting ones? I think?” Could the questions end already? He wasn’t sure what was in the bag and he didn’t feel like fielding all the questions. “Mom packed it, not me.” Apparently being eleven meant nothing to his mother in regards to letting him do his own thing. Because becoming a full-time student at his school wasn’t enough of a sign that he was growing up and could do stuff for himself.
Did she pack bricks in the thing or something? Picking it up was going to be harder than he thought. Not impossible but seriously what in the world was in this thing. He left it on the floor, opening it and going through it. Mostly boring stuff like clothes and books.
“What’s this?”
Zaizen looked up from the bag, finding Kirihara now sitting on his bed with a box of pocky in his hand. When had that happened?
“You never seen pocky before?” Hiyoshi was staring at Kirihara, face incredulous at the thought. “Seriously? I mean I’ve never seen it at any of the magic markets but still…”
Kirihara snorted as he looked over the colorful box. “Are you kidding me? My mom would kill me even if we did find this at one of the magic shops. She’s all crazy anti-muggle anything and everything.”
“Bet she’d love to hear you’re rooming with a half-blood and a muggle-born then.” Hiyoshi took the box away, opening it up for Kirihara. Zaizen scowled. Those were his. He let it be though wanting to keep his headache from getting any bigger and if he got into an argument with either (or both) of these two that’s all he’d get, a bigger headache.
“I’m not telling her that,” Kirihara admitted, pulling out one of the sticks and staring at this. “What is this?”
“You eat it, dummy,” Hiyoshi said as he took one for himself.
Kirihara hesitantly put the stick of pocky in his mouth and took a bite. Almost immediately, his eyes grew wide. The light caught his green eyes, making them shine like emeralds. It was creepy. Eyes should not do that even at a magical school. At least not unless they were spelled to and Zaizen knew for a fact that Kirihara’s eyes weren’t spelled. Okay maybe not for a fact but he was 99.999% positive they weren’t spelled.
A knock came from the doorway. All three turned in unison.
“I see I get you three.” Osamu stood in the doorway, practically glowing in his pale gold robe.
“I thought you graduated.” Hiyoshi crossed his arms and stared. Zaizen joined him. Kirihara took the box of pocky, apparently not caring about anything else. Traitor. Osamu was the enemy. Had been ever since that first day when he’d dragged the three of them into the school.
It wasn’t that Osamu was bad. He hadn’t been a teacher, just an upper-upperclassman back then but he had this annoying habit of always showing up and just...getting in the way and being this annoying grown up who seemed to think he was cool. He wasn’t. He was the lamest. Though in some ways the guy was goals because he managed to get on all the teachers good sides while being one of the schools biggest slackers.
“They gave me a job here. I’m supposed to keep track of you kids.”
Zaizen looked at Hiyoshi who was looking at him. They were definitely both thinking the same thing. Great.
-~-
Thirteen
Kirihara was screeching. Someone kill him. Now.
“You talking about yourself or him?” Zaizen asked, glancing over at where Hiyoshi was stretched across his bed. “Either can be arranged. I just need to know who to set the hit up for.”
Hiyoshi threw a pillow in his direction. Leaning to the side, Zaizen avoided getting hit. He watched as the pillow smacked into wall and bounced onto their missing roommate’s bed.
“He’s outside and we can hear his shitty yelling,” Hiyoshi groaned. “He’ll probably come up here in a few minutes still screaming like he’s lost his mind.”
Zaizen had no doubts about that. “Yeah, I’m guessing he made the Quidditch team.”
“No shit, Sherlock.”
“If we’re lucky, he’ll end up in the infirmary for the next few years.”
Hiyoshi barked out a laugh. “If only.”
No one ever said they were the best of friends. No one ever said they were even friends at all. But they did keep getting lumped together. It had started with that first day at Mahoutokoro. Something in their joined experience of getting dragged into the school by Osamu had marked them as a unit in the eyes of everyone else. Getting thrown in the same room a few years later when they became full-time students had only made that worse.
It wasn’t the easiest room to live in. Kirihara was too loud and his section of the room was a disgusting mess. Zaizen was pretty sure if he ever needed extra credit for herbology that he could just look under Kirihara’s bed and grab something. Didn’t matter what because no doubt it’d be some new species of something creepy and magical that’d make him famous for its discovery. Plus there was Kirihara’s parents and all the anti-muggle crap they liked to send. Zaizen liked to use the stuff for spell practice because it was a lot of fun watching the stuff burn. Or melt. It was strange how often his spells went wrong whenever he practiced on that stuff…
Not that Hiyoshi was a piece of cake either. Guy was an ass but at least he was a quiet ass. Most of the time. It was fun to get him riled up and even more fun to get Kirihara to rile the guy up. A bit too passionate and competitive for Zaizen’s tastes though but it was fun to pit his roommates against each other. One good point was that he didn’t have to explain all the little stupid shit to Hiyoshi. Guy had both a muggle and a wizard for parents so he understood both worlds decently.
And Zaizen...well Zaizen was currently trying to figure out how to make a magical patch that would let him access the internet. Two years and he still had no luck with it. He was starting to think he needed into the more advanced sections of the library...and probably more knowledge in how magic and electronics worked so that he could figure out how to get them to play nice.
The screeching abruptly stopped.
Not looking up from the notebook he was writing in, Zaizen had to ask it. “Did you kill him?”
Hiyoshi groaned. “No. But if you don’t shut up, you’ll take his spot on the list.”
Zaizen rolled his eyes and went back to trying to understand the formula he’d found written in the margin of some old muggle studies book he’d found in the school library. It seemed similar to something he’d seen in his brother’s science book. That one had been talking about electric currents and converting between them. Maybe not the right thing but it was a start.
Besides, he already knew what Hiyoshi’s deal was. They all did. Hiyoshi just didn’t want to accept that his eyes had gotten worse. Guy needed someone to drag him off to an optometrist and get him glasses that actually corrected his vision. That was the only way the guy’s headaches would stop but nope, Hiyoshi refused to listen to actual reason.
Sometimes Zaizen wondered what he’d done in a previous life to get stuck with the two of them. Nothing good if this was his punishment.
Stomping warned them that Kirihara was coming.
“I MADE THE TEAM!” He screamed at them.
“We know.” Hiyoshi lifted his hand and flicked the wand in it, sending the pillow from earlier zooming towards Kirihara.
Zaizen ignored the spluttering noises coming from his roommate. Not his problem, he wasn’t going to get involved. Besides, something about this equation looked like it might make more sense than he initially thought. He’d have to show it to Ryuuzaki-sensei. She was interested in the muggle world (rumor had it her grandkid was a squib). He didn’t want to share his findings but at the same time, he was pretty sure he didn’t have enough magical knowledge to do this himself.
-~-
Fifteen
Hiyoshi and Kirihara were drunk. Someone thought it was a brilliant idea to bring alcohol back after their winter break. It only made the headache Zaizen had been nursing the last eight years even worse. Not that Zaizen blamed them, or anyone else, for drinking tonight. He kind of felt like it himself.
Kenya walked over, drink in one hand and a second in the other. “You look like you need this,” he said, offering one of the cups to Zaizen.
“Thanks.” Zaizen took it, eyeing it warily for a moment. “Niou-sempai anywhere near the drinks?”
“Not that I know of. Fuji’s not been near them either.” Kenya took a drink of the one he still held. He tried, and failed, at not wincing at the taste.
White robes happened. They all knew that every so often a student, or teacher since a lot of the teachers wore them too, would fall into the dark arts and have their robe turn white. Zaizen could vaguely remember hearing about someone’s robes turning white back when he’d been a day student.
But damn…he’d never expected it to happen. And not to that person.
Zaizen took a deep drink. It felt like he swallowed liquid fire. He coughed and flushed in embarrassment. No one, except Kenya, even seemed to notice.
“Yeah, not so much,” his friend said softly, rubbing Zaizen’s back. “Want to come hang with me and the others?”
A glance over at his roommates told Zaizen that the two were still in the midst of doing whatever it was they were doing. It looked like they were trying to outdrink the other but he couldn’t be sure. Hopefully they wouldn’t make themselves sick. They probably would. He wasn’t going to clean up that mess.
Which is how Zaizen somehow found himself sandwiched in the corner of the common room, Kenya on one side and Kenya’s cousin Yuushi on the other. Everyone was drinking heavily but then, this was the group that was probably hit hardest.
“To Osaka!” One of the guys cheered, holding up what looked like a flask. Zaizen wasn’t about to ask what was in it.
“To Osaka,” the rest repeated though they were far less cheerful sounding about it.
Zaizen shifted, trying to get comfortable but it was hard when he had elbows digging into both his sides. Yuushi shifted too, resting his head on Zaizen’s shoulder. Zaizen attempted to shrug the head off but that just earned him a look. He didn’t know what that look said but it was trying to say something.
“It’s going to be weird to go home and see Osamu now,” another said. Shiraishi? Yeah, Zaizen was pretty sure that the pretty boy’s name was Shiraishi.
“You really think he’ll be able to show his face there again?” Kenya asked.
“You’re talking like he’ll make it out of his trial without getting punished,” a tall guy with fuzzy hair said. Chi-something.
He knew he should stop drinking, that having issues with his memory wasn’t a good sign. Zaizen decided to ignore the logical part of his brain for the rest of the night. Besides, Yuushi had started mumbling something and while he couldn’t make out the guy’s words, the rumble of his voice and the movement of his lips right on Zaizen’s collarbone was making him even drunker.
It hurt. Osamu’s betrayal and turn to the dark arts. Rumors were flying around the school about what had caused it and what exactly had happened. Zaizen wanted to care more, to try and figure out what had really happened. He didn’t want to. All they knew for certain was that Osamu had been with Yukimura at the time. Something had happened because Yukimura was still out with no signs of returning and Osamu’s robes had turned white.
And so they drank.
He didn’t know what time it was. A lot of people had stumbled off to their rooms by now. A few had wandered off in couples, some that had been established that night and others that everyone had known about. Kenya was snoring on his left and Yuushi was still using Zaizen as a pillow.
“Go to bed,” a kind voice suggested. Zaizen looked around, trying to blink away the haze he was still in.
Shiraishi was in front of him, a soft expression on his face. “It’s okay, go sleep,” the older guy said. “I’ll look after these two.”
Zaizen stared at the guy. “Are you okay?” He asked. They all knew that Shiraishi had been close to Osamu, a lot closer than any of the rest of them. And Shiraishi was friends with Yukimura. Whatever had happened had to be hitting this guy the hardest.
“No,” the older guy answered. He shook his head. “None of us are though.”
Trying to stand up was harder than Zaizen anticipated. At some point during the last however long it had been, Yuushi had managed to sneak an arm around Zaizen’s waist and was holding on tight. He hadn’t even noticed. Part of him said Zaizen should have, that it should bug him. Instead he just felt lonely as he stumbled to the room he shared with Hiyoshi and Kirihara.
His roommates were alive. They were both curled up on Zaizen’s bed but they were alive and it didn’t look like they’d puked on it. Hallelujah.
He should probably kick them off. It sounded like more effort than it was worth though so he took himself over to Hiyoshi’s bed. Hiyoshi’s, after all, was clean and not growing new magical experiments.
The next morning, he felt like dying.
So did everyone else so at least there was company in their misery.
-~-
Seventeen
A cluster of tiny children were gathered in front of the school.
“Were we really once that small?” Kirihara’s voice asked from next to Zaizen’s ear.
“Get your head off my shoulder,” was Zaizen’s response.
“You know you love me.” Kirihara didn’t move his head.
“Love to get rid of you,” Hiyoshi answered. Zaizen couldn’t have said it better himself. He moved his arm, elbowing Kirihara in the ribs. There was a little ‘oof’ from the other but his head was gone now. That was an improvement.
Zaizen started towards the school, ignoring the crowd of children. They could stare if they wanted. He had a project to get back to. There was still a little bit of tweaking to do but he was fairly confident he’d be able to access the internet this year. The prototype had done well when he’d gotten supplies at the magical market in Tokyo over the summer. Connection had been spotty but he’d definitely been able to access a few different sites. Just text-based and not resource-intensive sites but he’d gotten online and that was the important part.
He pulled the dinged up black cell phone out of his pocket. Like always, no bars of service out this far. He’d have to keep working on that too. Message by owl was just too inefficient and made no sense. Magic might be cool and a handy shortcut to some things but the muggle world had surpassed it in others.
“Last year,” Hiyoshi said as they entered the school. “Unless you guys plan on sticking around.”
Zaizen didn’t have to look to know Kirihara was shaking his head. “I’m out of here,” the guy said. “Quidditch team tryouts for me after graduation.”
“You’re going to die.”
“Will not.”
“Yeah you are,” Zaizen agreed with Hiyoshi. “I’m not going to the funeral.”
“You talk like there will be a body for the funeral. He’ll probably drown during a storm.”
Kirihara growled at the two of them and reached out to grab them. Zaizen didn’t have to look at Hiyoshi to know what his roommate was thinking.
They bolted, taking off through the hallways of the grand jade palace they called both their home and school.
Messy hair. Bright red cheeks. Breathing hard from running. No dirt smudged on their faces as the three lay on the floor of their shared dorm. A few laughs might have been attempted but they were all breathing too hard for that to happen.
Kirihara recovered first. He reached over and smacked both of them. “If I die and you two don’t come to the funeral, my ghost will haunt you two until you die,” he vowed, the look in his eyes showing just how serious he was.
Zaizen sat up, resting against Hiyoshi’s bed. “Follow him, he’d enjoy it,” he said, nodding towards their third roommate. “You’d make his life.”
“Would not.”
“It really would, wouldn’t it?” Kirihara looked like he was struggling not to laugh. “I’ll just haunt you instead.”
Lovely. That backfired on him.
“I shouldn’t have waited for that stupid race to finish,” Zaizen grumbled under his breath.
First impressions mean a lot. They start a relationship and have the ability to twist it in a particular direction. But they aren’t everything. Time can change a person, a relationship. A decade is a long time and Zaizen couldn’t imagine spending his time at Mahoutokoro with anyone else. Even if he’d had a headache for the last ten years of his life and would likely keep it for the rest of it. Because while he might not like Kirihara or Hiyoshi and the two could be idiots, they were his idiots.